US Senate Debate Live Blog

7:01: Sen Gillibrand gets a big round of applause as she enters. Long also gets a good applause.

7:02: Gillibrand makes appeal to middle class in her opening statement. Seems fired up for this debate. Talks about bipartisan record.

7:03: Long talking about her personal story. “Proud to be born in America.”

7:04: First question about Libya to Sen. Gillibrand. She praises Sec. Clinton and Pres. Obama. Doesn’t really talk about Anerica’s role. Long fires back attacking the administration for failing to call this a planned terror attack. 2 candidates are mixing it up well. This was a great exchange.

7:07: Moving on to jobs now. First question on role of federal government and stimulus.

7:10: Now we are moving onto the fiscal cliff. Gillibrand makes the case for a balanced decision to cut the deficit. Long interrupts Gillibrand bringing boos from the crowd.

7:12: Long brings up the tax foundation study as a reason for reforming the tax code and lowering taxes.

7:13: Liz now asking a question about abortion to Wendy Long. Long defends her statement that Roe v. Wade was a terrible constitution decision. Says states should make the decision.

7:15: Long argues that Gillibrand is using this issue to distract from jobs and the economy. Gillibrand fires back saying she didn’t bring this up, Congressional Republicans brought it up.

7:19: Sticking with abortion a little as we move to a Supreme Court question. Gillibrand and Long very emotional on the issue of women’s rights.

7:22: Gillibrand says Sotomayor would be the ideal justice. Long blasts Sotomayor. Wendy Long says good things about all conservative members of SCOTUS.

7:24: Onto a question about 2nd amendment rights. Long blasts Gillibrand for getting an A from NRA as Congresswoman and an F as a Senator. Gillibrand talks about what she has done to curb gun control.

7:28: LIGHTNING ROUND!
Candidates disagree on death penalty.
Both candidates say the approve all tweets.
Both candidates say they have attended political rallies.
Neither candidates has read “50 Shades of Grey”. Neither has Liz. We are unsure on Errol.

7:31: Now onto the cross examination. Sen. Gillibrand asks Wendy Long if she would vote for a bill that includes ten dollars in cuts to one dollar in tax increases. Long dismisses the premise of the question.

7:34: Long asking Gillibrand why she didn’t call for Speaker Sheldon Silver to resign. Gillibrand says she wants to see what comes from the investigation that is ongoing. Doesn’t defend Silver.

7:36: Long circles back to the question of Speaker Silver, instead of responding to Gillibrand’s healthcare response.

7:38: Now asking questions about bipartisanship. Long says she would work with President Obama to find budget cuts. Gillibrand talks about her successes with GOP, says she hopes she could work with Romney on national security.

7:40: Now a question about Israel. Gillibrand says she backs Pres. Obama’s policies in regards to Israel. Long bashes Obama, praises Hillary Clinton’s plan from her 2008 campaign.

7:44: Moving onto Afghanistan. Long says it was not a mistake to go to into Afghanistan. Blasts Obama’s “political” timetable. Gillibrand says she believes we should be out of Afghanistan now. Says we have achieved our goals. Blasts Afghan president Karzai.

7:47: Now onto a question about improving upstate economy and specifically fracking. Gillibrand praises upstates colleges and manufacturing. Says she will push to develop this industry. Liz follows up with a question about hydrofracking. Gillibrand outlines her concerns on fracking before saying she will sign off on it.

7:51: Long blasts Gillibrand’s response. Long says fracking has been study. Says there has been no evidence anywhere that it damages drinking water. Argues that it is costing jobs. Gillibrand fires back attacking Long’s argument that there are not health concerns. Long defends her position.

7:54: Now onto the DREAM Act. Long says Congress needs to take action and the President shouldn’t act on his own. Gillibrand praises the acts and says she hopes there could be common ground on this.

This entry was posted by Michael Johnson on October 17, 2012 at 6:55 pm, and is filed under 2012. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

GoGirls

I was impressed by the journalists who did the follow-up to the debate. They were objective & they weren’t partisan.

Gillibrand needs to stop gushing when she speaks. I for one know she is not a sincere person. I’ve seen her gush & then forget that she even pretended to care.

So Kudos to Long & the follow-up journalists. Liz & Erroll? Pro’s. They’re a given.

john

too bad they dont allow the other senate candidates to be a part of the debate so that the public can see their choices.

john

what channel was this broadcast on

GOP_NYC

Wendy Long totally — TOTALLY — outclassed Gillibrand, who looked, sounded, and acted like she was running for Sophomore Class secretary.

It should come as no surprise Gillibrand won’t do another debate with Long — she’s obviously TERRIFIED of Long She came off as pretty much clueless on the issues and completely out her depith when questioned about issues of personal character.

It wasn’t even close. Long won, by miles.

I can’t believe that New Yorkers keep this inept, clueless idiot in the 1Senate simply because she has a “D” after her name.

GOP_NYC

Nice, slanted reporting by WNBC in New York on the 11:00PM news. They played 20 seconds of Gillibrand touting her fantasyland of unicorns and gum drop “clean tech” manufacturing that “can never be outsourced” (yea,sure..).

That was it.

No Wendy Long. Not even a camera shot of her.

And people think NBC is biased…

BusterBrown

Outclassed? Terrified? You are delusional…not that I’m not used to it by now.

Ms. Long came off as a mentally ill person with a tenuous grasp (at best) on reality. She refuses to accept that she has to give the bulk of the voters of NYS what THEY want, not what Wendy wants. Her answers were so contrary to public opinion that the audience LAUGHED at her numerous times. I was laughing at home. Kudos to Gillibrand for not busting out laughing at crazy Wendy, too.

Gillibrand was smart. She knew that if she gave Wendy enough rope, Ms. Long would hang herself. And that’s exactly what Wendy did.

I look forward to not hearing from Wendy again after November 6th. Gillibrand will bury her. Congrats to New York’s junior senator for jumping through the zillion hoops necessary to get back on track as a full-term Senator. Gillibrand will work out just fine.

p.s. Why is it that you Republicans/Conservatives can’t follow the rules, GOP_NYC? Both Mitt and Wendy think that rules apply to everyone but them. Kudos to the moderators for not letting Wendy start making up her own questions and seize control of the debate. She tried to do a “Mitt Romney” and was promptly reined in. Kudos to Candy Crowley, too, for not putting up with any crap.

I agree that manufacturing of whatever type is pie in the sky. Bot Gillibrand and Tonko touted that.

It’s the U.S. TAX CODE that has to be seriously changed to screw people like you and Mitt who want to outsource. Obama whispered that fact during the debate. He should say it a lot louder, IMHO.

American “entrepreneurs” outsource because they can treat workers like crap overseas. It’s a return to the pre-union industrial age when workers were sh*t on. I’m enjoying seeing the Chinese workers making Apple products start to rebel.

If I were in charge, I’d crucify your greedy @$$ for screwing over the American people…just so you can put ten cents more in your pocket. We’d return to “made in America” so quick that it would make your head spin. Don’t like it? Go live in crime-ridden Mexico or India or Thailand or whatever third world country where you’re amassing your ill gotten gains. You should NEVER be allowed to bring a cent of it back into the U.S. Forget amnesties.

We don’t need to provide a single NEW incentives to produce in America, as Obama suggested the other night. We simply need to remove the EXISTING incentives for American businesses that infest the U.S. tax code. I hope to live to see a president with enough balls to do what needs to be done.No guts, no glory.

Feel free to renounce your citizenship, too. I’d bar you from the U.S. after that little escapade. I could go on, but I’ve got better things to do!

BusterBrown

Correction: BOTH Gillibrand and Tonko touted that.

Gepap

Why the stupid and obnoxious question about Fifty Shades of Grey? Those lightning rounds are idiotic, but that question was especially demeaning.

GOP_NYC

Surely you kidding now, Buster.
Gillibrand acted like she was rurring for secretary of the Junior Class. Even the reporters who did the post-debate analysis jumped on her; they clearly though Long was the commanding figure in the debate.

Look, I spend a lot of time in Washington and I talk to people there pretty much every other day. There’s very little respect for Gillibrand. There are some women’s groups and some of your gay lobby pals that pay attention to her, but she’s mostly a non-entity. (Sikorsky laid-off 500 high wage, high-skilled, union workers a their Black Hawk avionics plant in Big Flats and they didn’t even bother to TELL her! She’s on ARMED SERVICES, for Chrissakes!!! The notion that a Defense contractor

GOP_NYC

The shop steward at my company has my cell phone number and knows he can call me any time he likes. We try to have lunch together at least once every two weeks. When I’m down there over a weekend, the steward is invited to join me, my VP of ops and my CFO for golf on Saturday. (He gets paid time and a half for it; the others don’t.) And everything I make is made by legal workers in America, some of whom have worked for me for 30 years. One other they get paid before I do. All my workers have company-paid health insurance and, yes, I pay for “partners” for those civil partners who moved with the plant from NYS, even though its not required at the new facility. I’ve eaten up to two YEARS of accumulated earnings during downturn to avoid layoffs. I’ve cut hours because I had to, too, but that’s what the workers wanted when presented with the option of that or layoffs. We’ve been at just slightly above “break eve” for three years now.

Gillibrand is wrong about manufacturing because manufacturing doesn’t employ people anymore — at least at any wage you would want to earn.

http://twitter.com/Sunnie57 Lovely Sun

Gillibrand debated her last opponent, Joe DioGuardi, at least twice. I guess Kirsten Gillibrand is more afraid of Wendy than she is with Joe!
btw, why couldn’t I get tickets to see the debate (as well as many other Long supporters), but yet Gillibrand supporters could? The room was filled with Gillibrand supporters. I was so disappointed that I couldn’t get tickets, too.

BusterBrown

1)[Left-leaning publications (Albany TU, DN, NYT) who did the post-debate
analysis jumped on her; they clearly though Long was the commanding
figure in the debate.]

Got quotes & citations for the quotes?

2)[Look, I spend a lot of time in Washington and I talk to people there
pretty much every other day. There’s very little respect for
Gillibrand.]

That’s because you spend your time talking to conservative kooks just like you. You’re talking to yourself. No wonder you and your sources agree!

3)[Lots of women command enormous respect from their colleagues in the Senate.]

Care to name a few sitting Dem women who command enormous respect from you and/or your Republican cronies in Congress?

4)[(As one lobbyist — a guy who represents another contractor — told me,
the notion that a Defense contractor would be so disrespectful of a
sitting senator on Armed Services is totally unfathomable.)]

Republicans are ALWAYS rude and disrespectful of their opponents. Just look at Romney, his VP candidate, Cantor, Boehner and the rest of them. It’s the result of self righteous religiosity and/or the Tea Party mentality. It’s being getting worse for the last 20 years or so.

BTW, Sikorsky didn’t tell Chuck either. Big mistake. Very big mistake. Chuck IS to be feared. He’s very powerful regardless of what committees he sits on. Chuck waited 10 or 20 years to pay back Marty Conner for screwing him. Sooner or later, Sikorsky (or their parent company) WILL pay a price, too. Good.

GOP_NYC

There were a lot of empty seats, too. Typical Dems — they fight like the Mafia — 6 on 1 is how they define a fair fight. But, then, the Mafia is a bunch of low-life cowards, too.

GOP_NYC

1. You had to watch the show. It was right after the debate on NY1
2. Actually, my lobbyist is a Democrat. His partner is a Republican.
3. Dem women? Well, like those with the XY chromosome in their party, they’re pretty much hopeless. But Debbie Stabenow and Barbara Boxer get some love occassionally. My lobbyist speaks highly of Mary Landrieu as somebody that does her homework.

4. Hogwash The only “respect” Chuckie gets is from Democrats in New York. And its good to know that he was as much asleep at the switch as Gillibrand was. But its understandable that Gillibrand would overlook the importance of the Sikorsky plant in Hoseheads. Black Hawks don’t have ovaries.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Flynn/100001703540782 Mike Flynn

Mrs. Long Is Indifferent to Middle Class:

suffering, but to his credit Gov. Cuomo spoke to the need for a raise in minimum wage for little people this week. The Middle Class has fallen into the help desperately needed Class – and Mrs. Long will never grasp that and shouldn’t be taken seriously as a candidate.